Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...

Submitter's Comments:
I first became familiar with this Threadcakes contest after seeing a brilliant Muppets balloon cake on Facebook 2 weeks ago. I became obsessed--OBSESSED!--with finding a design. I'm pretty sure I looked at every shirt on the site--so many awesome ones--but I kept coming back to this one; I just love it! And I thought it would be a cool challenge. I wasn't able to start work on it till late last week, but spent around 5 days or evening on it.

I started trying to figure on the pan sizes to use. Next, I made the little creature out or marshmallows. (I knew gumpaste would be too heavy, and I haven't had luck with RKT lately.) A few days later, I discovered my son had been eating him, so I had to make another ;) Then, I made the gumpaste branches. I used nearly a pound of gumpaste, all told. Those took several evenings. Some I tried to fashion after ones in the art, some I just freehanded. Most are only gumpaste; a few of the thicker pieces have skewers or toothpicks.

Next came the cakes. I opted for a yummy orange-vanilla bean pound cake for stability and easy carving. I filled it with an orange spiked ganache (for 'glue') then made an orange/vanilla SMBC, also for stability. I ended up making 5 batches of cake, as I realized the 10" cakes I was planning for the head would be too big. I stacked and carved the neck and head seperately. I doweled the neck tier (an 8" and two 6" cakes.) I stacked 3 tiers for the head, made of five 9" cakes and one 8". Each tier was doweled to support the weight, and just to keep it together once it was on an angle. After I carved it, I made a nose and mouth out of modelling chocolate and stuck them to the face. Then I crumb coated and chilled them.

I covered the head in fondant first--I wanted to keep it horizontal as long as possible before stacking it on the neck. I then made all the rest of the doodads for the forest--owl, deer, stars, birds, etc. I used white powdered color (how had I not seen that before?!) to highlight the lighter parts of her face, then drew her branches on with a food marker. Oh! I also covered the board in grey fondant, and then textured it with a towel to give it the paper-y feel that the gray "shadow" has, behind her in the artwork.

Finally, it was time to stack. Using more ganache for glue, I put the head on the neck, put 2 dowels through the whole cake, then covered the neck in fondant. I tried to give the bottom the torn, sketchy feel the picture has. Then it was time to start adding the branches!! I put in the red highlights, and other parts of the forest, then lastly put the little creature in. He is actually just resting on branches. My hubby and I had a celebratory slice after! Mmmmm, orange...